Fewer than 2 million of Ohioâ€™s nearly 8 million registered voters are expected to cast ballots in today’s primary election. And many of those who do get ballots will find just issues — no candidatesâ€™ names — on them.

A new organization Ohio voters pushing to change that.

Technically, Ohio has no independent voters. It has nonpartisan voters â€“ people who have never asked for a party ballot in a primary and are content in those spring elections to vote only on issues.

Once they pull a Democratic or Republican ballot, they belong to that party.

Cynthia Capathios moved to Canton from New York by way of California. She now heads a group called Independent Ohio and she says she got involved because she was tired of being left out says she isnâ€™t willing to sign up and is tired of feeling left out.

â€œIt wasnâ€™t that I was a little bit of one and a little bit of another. It was more that they really fully didnâ€™t represent me, and I felt that we needed to do something different, something news.â€

So whatâ€™s she looking for?

â€œA different of a system that isnâ€™t so overwhelmingly dictated by the parties. Weâ€™re not against parties and weâ€™re not against people being in the parties but against them being the arbitrators and being able to run the show. The political power is more in their hands than in the hands of the voters.â€

She says that would include an open, nonpartisan primary, in which the top two vote-getters have a runoff.

â€œThat would be really opening up the field.â€

She acknowledges Ohioâ€™s lawmakers may not be receptive to that, so, â€œI think this could come to a referendum in Ohio and voters could vote it in. Actually how it happened in California.â€

But sheâ€™s not passing petitions yet.

â€œI donâ€™tâ€™ think that enough people know about it yet. I think we need to bring more awareness to it so when we do get to that point, the people will understand it better and wonâ€™t be scared off of it, because I do think that the powers that are in place right now arenâ€™t going to be thrilled by having it changed.â€

Part of that awareness is informational picketing the group has planned for the Ohio Secretary of Stateâ€™s office tomorrow, primary election day.

â€œThe secretary of state is the one who has a lot of power over the elections and so â€¦ we are working to make ourselves visible to him, to our legislators, to all voters.

â€œI think independents are a big part of our voters. Nationally, 42 percent identify as independent, according to a Gallup Poll that was done in January 2014. At the last gubernatorial election, 68 percent of the voters in Ohio were unaffiliated. These are huge numbers. And we are kind of invisible.â€

Thatâ€™s Cynthia Carpathios of a group called Independent Ohio. The group is affiliated with a national organization called independentvoting.org.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/05/06/independent-voters-to-protest-todays-primary/feed/0election 2014,independent voters,jon husted,ohio,primary election,secretary of stateCynthia Capathios heads a group called Independent Ohio. She says she got involved because she was tired of being left out says she isnâ€™t willing to sign up and is tired of feeling left out.Cynthia Capathios heads a group called Independent Ohio. She says she got involved because she was tired of being left out says she isnâ€™t willing to sign up and is tired of feeling left out.WOSU Newsno3:51Ohioans Must Register By Monday April 8th To Vote In Primaryhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/04/06/ohioans-must-register-by-monday-april-8th-to-vote-in-primary/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/04/06/ohioans-must-register-by-monday-april-8th-to-vote-in-primary/#commentsSat, 06 Apr 2013 21:08:10 +0000The Associated Presshttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=46813

Monday April 8th is the deadline for Ohioans to register to vote for the May 7th primary election.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/04/06/ohioans-must-register-by-monday-april-8th-to-vote-in-primary/feed/0Delaware County Candidate Arrestedhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/03/06/delaware-county-candidate-arrested/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/03/06/delaware-county-candidate-arrested/#commentsTue, 06 Mar 2012 18:08:29 +0000Steve Brownhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=24365Police say Rick Gemienhardt, a candidate for the county's Republican Party Central Committee, took campaign literature his opponent had placed at several homes and threw it away.

]]>A political candidate in Delaware County was arrested yesterday after being accused of throwing his competitor’s campaign literature down a sewer drain.

A report from the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office says 54-year-old Rick Gemienhardt was arrested yesterday for theft and criminal mischief. The candidate for the county’s Republican Party Central Committee is accused of following his 18-year-old opponent Adam Fleischer and picking up the literature Fleischer left at several houses.

Three homeowners backed Fleischer’s claims, but Gemienhardt denies the charges.

Right now, there are two primaries scheduled in Ohio next year. A group of Democratic elections workers is making a late push for state lawmakers to merge next yearâ€™s two primaries back into a single event.

The primary for the state legislature and the U.S. Senate is scheduled for March, while the primary for Congressional districts and the presidential race is set for June. All races were supposed to happen in Ohio in March, but the second primary was created because the Republican drawn Congressional district map might not stand.

Democrats are still working to put it before voters next year. 38 Democratic boards of elections members in 29 counties have written to Republican House Speaker Bill Batchelder, asking him “to work across party lines to swiftly reach a solution that includes a single primary election.”

Tim Burke of the Hamilton County Board of Elections says though state lawmakers say the $15 million cost of the separate primary will be covered by the state, thatâ€™s doesnâ€™t resolve the groupâ€™s concerns.

“First of all itâ€™s still taxpayersâ€™ money,” Burke says. “And secondly, none of us believe that theyâ€™re really going to cover all of the expenses associated with it. Itâ€™s not just the dollar expenses. Itâ€™s the human costs too. Elections are an exhausting process for everybody involved.”

Burke claims it isnâ€™t fair to argue that Democrats caused this by putting up a map that Republicans felt was too partisan, and then by pushing forward with their challenge of the map. He insists the primaries could still be merged into one.

“Itâ€™s the Republicans which have created this second primary that we, thereâ€™s just no justification for it.”

While the dual primary eliminates the special elections in February and May, Burke says the Hamilton County Board of Elections is going to need to get at least 2,000 poll workers to turn out for both the March and June votes, which he says will be difficult to do.

The letter was a surprise to Dale Fellows, the head of the Ohio Association of Elections Officials and a board member in Lake County, where heâ€™s also the chair of the county Republican party. But Fellows says he understands the frustration that sparked it.

“I think, you know, the Speaker is well aware of the issues. I donâ€™t see any harm with the letter, but Iâ€™m not sure that thatâ€™s going to be the single persuasion. Weâ€™ve been doing our due diligence bipartisanly, and I think thatâ€™ll have the weight that it needs,” Fellows says.

Almost every one on both sides of the aisle agree they donâ€™t like the two primary plan. But as of now, the state is operating as if the two primaries will go on as scheduled.

Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted is no fan of the two primary situation, and has ordered the Congressional filing deadline to stay on Wednesday at 4pm just in case the Democrats donâ€™t turn in enough signatures to challenge the Congressional district map and the state can go back to just one primary in March. But he says the state has to plan for the second primary in June just in case.

“The power to change all these things, to make them uniform, to create one primary and an agreed upon set of maps is within the power of the General Assembly to do. Itâ€™s just a matter of whether theyâ€™ll do it.”

And Husted says itâ€™s not just candidates and local boards of elections who are in limbo. He notes school districts, fire departments and others who have levies and money questions they want to put before voters still are confused about whether there will be two primaries or one.

“We are running out of time. And if you sense frustration in my voice â€“ I was telling people last year that these maps needed to be done by the end of August. I made all kinds of pleas about the need to get this done early because of all the potential complications for this, and yet weâ€™re still not done.”

Thereâ€™s been no comment from Speaker Batchelder on the letter from teh Democratic boards of elections members. Democrats have until Christmas Day to turn in enough signatures to challenge the congressional map â€“ if they donâ€™t, the two primaries could go back to one in March.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/12/07/last-minute-push-for-return-to-single-primary/feed/0primary election,redistrictingA group of Democratic elections officials is trying to move back to a single primary election next year.A group of Democratic elections officials is trying to move back to a single primary election next year.WOSU Newsno3:51